Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Game 4: Detroit at Toronto pregame

Really sad news this morning about Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart. He was killed last night in a car accident out in California after making his season debut for the Halos. Adenhart was only 22 years old.

Everything else today seems meaningless after hearing about that.

But, I’m writing up something on Lyle Overbay and Scott Richmond today, so check bluejays.com later. You can also follow me throughout the game on twitter. You can find me under @MLBastian.

When I played high school football, we lost our all-star punter through a tragic accident. We played our next game, because we thought that was the best thing to do, but we played it for him, and I still remember Melvin Zurwal at times like this.
I think Romero’s line is the best of the Spring so far. Nice outing. Hill and Lind are on track to hit 81 taters apiece this year LOL.

That outing from Romero might be one of the best first outings we’ve had in Blue Jay land, I can’t remember any better.
As nice as it is to see Snider, Lind, Rolen and Hill, its just as disappointing to see Wells, Overbay and Rios all struggling at the same time. I will be happy when Snider has enough confidence to hit in the 4th hole. I think we lose huge there with Wells. Wells appears to be a guy that doesn’t play well under any expectations or pressure-he should be moved to the 6th hole where his hitting into double plays won’t hurt us as much as it does now..

First series! Graded A for the Jays. Maybe it was a good thing that Romero got that much time in the minors. He didn’t overachieve by any means down there, but no doubt he learned a lot of things along the way.

Today he when up against a much more highly-touted prospect in Porcello (a guy that hasn’t had much experience in the minors) and he looked like the better pitcher today. Not a bad outing at all. Romero showed he belongs here. I had my doubts.

Good games for our young players again. Snider had a nice double, Lind took a slow breaking ball out to center field (Lind has a lot more power it looks like). Surprisingly, Batista played very well. He had two nice singles and he made another two great base running judgements on a ball that slightly got away from the catcher and he did a good job breaking up a double play.

Rios and Wells had some miscommunication in the outfield on a Curtis Ganderson pop-up ‘can of corn’ turned base hit. That made me upset. Vernon also chased some balls way out of the strike zone today for some K’s. It just looked ugly. Some of our other hitters are definately putting pressure on our 3 and 4 spots.

Actually, gsjays, Overbay didn’t have a bad outing last time out. 2 for 3 with a double, a walk, and a run isn’t too shabby. He’s too good to stay down for long. Wells and Rios both had good Springs, and just because they go 0-fer for a couple of games doesn’t mean you scrap them. Wells hit around .300 with 20 dingers in a 4 month campaign last year, and Rios made the best play of the game yesterday with his outfield assist.
What we should be saying is that we have enough depth in the lineup this year that we don’t have to depend on those 3-4 guys to get all the runs all the time. We have one of the best defensive lineups in the league, so the guys that aren’t hitting at the time still bring it on defense.
And our bullpen sez that you only have 6-7 innings to win the game, or forget it!

Actually, gsjays, Overbay didn’t have a bad outing last time out. 2 for 3 with a double, a walk, and a run isn’t too shabby. He’s too good to stay down for long. Wells and Rios both had good Springs, and just because they go 0-fer for a couple of games doesn’t mean you scrap them. Wells hit around .300 with 20 dingers in a 4 month campaign last year, and Rios made the best play of the game yesterday with his outfield assist.
What we should be saying is that we have enough depth in the lineup this year that we don’t have to depend on those 3-4 guys to get all the runs all the time. We have one of the best defensive lineups in the league, so the guys that aren’t hitting at the time still bring it on defense.
And our bullpen sez that you only have 6-7 innings to win the game, or forget it!

I wouldn’t worry about Wells and Rios that much. Those are two guys (if healthy) that have a track record of being good hitters. It’s only 4 games. They’ll be the best hitters out of the whole bunch of Jays – and if they’re not, it won’t be because of them – it’ll be because of guys like Lind and Hill who will have taken the next step. For what it’s worth, they’re OBP is now .353 and Rios is on track to score 122 Runs, which would have lead the league last year. Yes, I know that’s ridiculous, but it goes to show you that it’s too early to tell anything.

Speaking of early success, Emaus is 6/8 with 4 doubles and 7 RBI through two games in AA. He sure is carrying over his success from Spring Training.

gnorman
I will agree on Rios, I think he’s going to have a great year and is perfect in the 3 hole. Overbay, probably isn’t going to matter as much as he has in the past because I don’t see us taking Lind out of the 5th hole any time soon, not when he’s leading the American League with 7 rbi’s.( HIll is tied for 2nd with 6).
However, on Wells, I guess we have to agree to disagree. Wells isn’t a clutch hitter, not now and never has been. His career Ba after the 6th inning or in tight games is somewhere between .210 and .240. A number of hits or hr’s he gets are after the game is decided or in not critical timeframes. The more pressure put on him, the worse he performs and he’s been that way all his career.
In my view the only reason Well’s in the 4th hole is to justify the insidious contract we gave him. He would do a much better job in the 6th hole.
Right now, I’d like to see Rolen in the 4th and Wells in the 6th with Lind staying in the 5th hole. Rolen has made a career of clutch hitting and looks healthy so I expect he’s going to have a great year.
Long term though, I think of the guys we now have, Snider or (the nickname given to him on Bluebird Banter) Moonraker is our guy for that spot.

Interesting Minor League Updates
AA
Looks like Bradley Emaus is trying to justify a promotion to AAA already. After two games he’s hitting an unbelieveable .750 BA/.750 OBP/1.250 slg with 4 doubles and 7 rbi’s. Now thats what I call a hot start.
Marc Rzepczynski another high quality LH control type pitching prospect (who jumped from Lansing-A- to New Hampshire-AA this year, jumping over Dunedin A+) certainly justified the unusual promotion in his first start by going 5 innings while giving up only 1 run, walking 4 but striking out 9. One to watch this year, who could be promoted to AAA sooner than we’d expect. 4 relievers combined for 6 innings, only giving up 3 hits and no runs.
AAA.
In the season opener, Joe Inglett went 3 for 6, Scott Campbell went 2 for 5 with 1 rbi and Arencibia went 2 for 5 with 2 rbi’s.

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